J79 


GIFT   OF 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION 

OP  THE 

MATERIAL  OP  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


DECEMBER,  1915 


Published  By 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  SOUTH  DAKOTA 

Vermillion 


http://www.archive.org/details/concreteinvestigOOjonerich 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION 

OF  THE 

MA  TERIAL  OF  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


With  Conclusions  Bearing  on  the 
Problems    of  Teaching  Spelling 


BY 
W.  FRANKLIN  JONES,  Ph.  D. 

Head  of  Department  of  Education 
University  of  outh  Dakota 


Price  by  Mail  10  Cents 
$1  per  dozen;  $6  per  hundred 


Published  By 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  SOUTH  DAKOTA 

Vermillion 


CONCRETE     INVESTIGATION 

OF  THE 

MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


If  there  is  any  subject  of  study  in  the  common  schools 
whose  teaching  has  been  a  disappointment  to  teachers 
themselves,  that  subject  is  spelling.  In  spite  of  new  and 
improved  methods  of  teaching  spelling;  in  spite  of  more 
time  spent  upon  spelling;  and  in  spite  of  some  reforms  in 
English  spelling,  students  throughout  the  eight  grades 
continue  to  disappoint  us  in  their  spelling.  Then,too,  high 
school  students  still  alarm  us  with  their  bad  spelling;  the 
letters  of  business  men  do  not  come  up  to  the  standards 
we  have  set;  and  even  the  college  graduate  is  not  immune 
to  the  spelling  plague. 

The  pioneers  in  the  field  of  concrete  spelling  investi- 
gation have  added  further  evidence.  As  far  back  as  1897 
*Rice  demonstrated  the  futility  of  the  popular  spelling 
drill;  and  *Cornman,  five  years  later,  showed  us  that  the 
hours  spent  on  the  usual  spelling  books  are  liberally  wast- 
ed. (However  we  may  criticise  the  work  of  these  investi- 
gators today,  we  must  concede  that  they  did  establish  the 
fact  that  spelling  teaching  was,  and  without  question  it 
still  is,  defective.) 

This  is  a  formidable  array  of  evidence  against  our 
teaching  of  spelling;  and  from  every  quarter  comes  the 
cry,  "What  is  the  matter  with  our  spelling  teaching?" 

The  answer  to  this  question  may  come  from  either  or 
both  of  two  sources;  namely,  (1)  our  spelling  material 
may  be  badly  selected,  just  as  our  materials  in  reading 
and  arithmetic,  and  so  on,  once  were;  (2)  our  methods  of 
handling  spelling  material  may  be  at  fault.  When,  how- 
ever, we  note  the  different  methods  that  have  been  used 
in  teaching  spelling  in  the  last  few  years,  and  apparently 
with  no  great  difference  in  ultimate  success,  it  would 
seem  that  it  is  time  for  us  to  begin  the  serious  investiga- 

* — See  Bibliography,  page  28. 


i  CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OP  THE 

tion  of  our  spelling  material.  We  still  need  investigations 
in  the  field  of  method.  The  methods  of  presenting  spell- 
ing lists,  the  methods  of  studying  these  lists,  the  methods 
of  testing  spelling  efficiency,  the  length  of  the  spelling  as- 
signment, the  length  of  the  study  period,  the  grading  of 
words,  and  so  on,  are  still  in  need  of  careful  study;  and 
we  are  fortunate  in  having  the  recent  studies  of  Wallin, 
Suzzallo,  Pearson,  and  others  in  this  field.  On  the  other 
hand,  comes  the  serious  question,  "Are  the  spelling  lists 
which  we  are  giving  our  students  good  or  bad?"  Are 
these  lists  made  up  of  words  which  our  children  actually 
use,  grade  by  grade,  in  their  own  free  written  speech?  or 
are  they  full  of  words  which  are  as  far  beyond  these  chil- 
dren as  our  reading  and  arithmetic  materials  once  were? 
It  is  this  significant  question  which  prompted  this  re- 
search. Restated,  this  question  presents  the  following 
problem. 

PROBLEM 

What  words,  grade  for  grade,  do  children  use  in  their 
own  free  written  speech,  and  what  words,  therefore,  do 
they  need  to  know  how  to  spell f 

MATERIAL  AND  HANDLING 

The  material  used  in  this  investigation  consisted  of 
the  approximate  writing  vocabularies  of  1,050  grade  stu- 
dents, approximately  150  students  per  grade  above  the 
first  (first  grade  omitted  for  the  reason  that  so  little  writ- 
ten work  is  done  in  this  grade  that  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
derive  writing  vocabularies).  The  1,050  students  were 
divided  among  four  states,  one-third  from  Illinois,  one 
third  from  Maryland,  and  one-third  from  Iowa  and  South 
Dakota.  The  writing  vocabularies  were  derived  as  fol- 
lows : 

Regular  teachers  were  asked  to  have  the  students 
write  daily  themes,  under  regular  school  conditions,  and 
on  any  topics  of  interest  to  the  students.  The  directions 
given  were  ( 1 )  that  the  topic  for  any  theme  be  announced 
when   the   students   were   prepared   to   write,    (2)    that 


MATERIAL   OF   ENGLISH   SPELLING  5 

the  teacher  was  expected  to  stimulate  the  work  by  asking 
any  questions  she  pleased,  using  only  the  simplest  speech, 
(3)  that  care  be  taken  not  to  assign  any  topic  on  which 
any  student  had  recently  done  any  reading  (the  purpose 
here  was  to  avoid  reading  vocabularies),  (4)  that  the  stu- 
dents be  given  any  usual  cautions  for  theme  writing,  but 
not  allowed  to  know  that  the  manuscripts  were  to  be  used 
for  other  purposes,  (5)  that  the  students  should  be  given 
at  least  five  minutes  to  think  on  the  topic  before  begin- 
ning to  write,  (6)  that  the  time  given  to  the  thinking  and 
writing  together  should  be  not  more  than  thirty  minutes, 
and  (7)  that  the  work  be  made  as  inviting  to  the  students 
as  possible.  The  theme  writing  was  begun  in  the  third 
month  of  the  school  year  and  continued  until  the  vocabu- 
laries were  completed.  Over-aged  students  in  any  grade 
were  allowed  to  write,  but  their  manuscripts  were  not 
used  in  this  work.  A  second  grade  student  was  counted 
over  age  for  this  work  if  over  8  years  0  months  at  the 
beginning  of  the  school  year,  a  third  grade  student  over 
age  if  over  9  years  0  months  at  the  beginning  of  the 
school  year,  and  so  on. 

The  following  are  given  as  samples  of  theme  topics 
selected  at  random,  grade  by  grade: 

2nd  grade. — The  (play)  house  I  should  like. 

3rd  grade. — What  I  expect  to  do  when  I  am  a  man 
(or  woman). 

4th  grade. — How  I  spent  my  last  vacation. 

5th  grade. — What  I  did  last  Saturday. 

6th  grade. — My  visit  with  grandpa. 

7th  grade. — The  study  I  like  best. 

Sth  grade. — How  I  came  to  tell  a  lie. 

The  number  of  themes  varied.  The  words  used  by 
each  student  were  listed  separately  as  the  themes  came 
in.  By  the  time  most  of  the  students  had  handed  in  forty 
themes  the  flow  of  new  words  had  almost  ceased.  New 
words  were  then  sought  by  varying  the  themes  so  as  to 
reach  into  new  and  varied  fields  of  experience.  When 
such  means  of  inducing  the  student  to  use  new  words  had 


6  CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OP  THE 

failed  to  give  results  for  eight  or  more  themes,  then  the 
student's  word-well  was  counted  approximately  dry,  and 
it  was  assumed  that  the  list  recorded  constituted  the  ap- 
proximate writing  vocabulary  of  the  student. 

DATA 

The  number  of  themes  per  student  ranged  from  56  to 
105,  the  students  in  the  higher  grades  usually  requiring 
both  more  and  longer  themes  in  order  to  drain  their  word- 
wells.  The  total  number  of  themes  written  and  examined 
was  a  little  over  75,000,  and  the  themes  averaged  a  little 
less  than  190  words.  The  total  number  of  words  record- 
ed from  all  themes,  counting  each  word  as  many  times  as 
it  occurred,  was  approximately  15,000,000.  Finally,  while 
there  were  15,000,000  words  used  by  the  1,050  students  in 
writing  75,000  themes,  averaging  190  words,  the  total 
number  of  different  words  was  but  4,532. 

(For  spelling  purposes  the  words  "have"  and  "hav- 
ing" ;  "refer,"  "referred"  and  "referring" ;  "mimic,"  "mim- 
micked"  and  "mimmicking"  are  different  words.  A  stu- 
dent may  misspell  any  one  of  a  series  and  not  another. 
This  deviation  from  the  usual  method  of  counting  words 
is  therefore  followed  in  this  study.  Any  word  formed  by 
the  simple  addition  of  "s"  or  "ed"  to  another  word,  with 
little  chance  of  misspelling,  was  not  counted  a  separate 
word. ) 

The  4,532  different  words  used,  grade  by  grade,  are 
given  in  the  following  lists.  No  word  is  repeated  in  the 
lists,  but  any  given  word  is  assigned  to  the  lowest  grade 
in  which  at  least  two  per  cent  of  the  students  (3  out  of 
150  students)  used  it.  No  word  was  recorded  in  any 
grade  unless  it  was  used  by  at  least  two  per  cent  of  the 
students  of  that  grade.  About  200  words  in  all  were 
ruled  out  because  they  were  used  by  only  one  or  two  stu- 
dents. 


MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


SECOND  GRADE 


above 

about 

ache 

aches 

aching 

across 

add 

afraid 

after 

afternoon 

again 

against 

ago 

ahead 

air 

alive 

all 

already 

alone 

along 

always 

am 

among 

an 

and 

ankle 

another 

answer 

answered 

any 

anything 

anywhere 

apple 

apron 

are 

arm 

around 

as 

ashes 

ashamed 

ask 

asked 

asleep 

at 

ate 

August 

aunt 

automobile 

awake 

away 

awhile 

ax 

babies 

baby 

back 

backwards 

bad 

ball 

balloon 

banana 

band 

bank 

bantam 

barbed    wir 

bare 

barefooted 

bark 

barked 


barking 

barn 

barrel 

bashful 

basket 

be 

bead 

bean 

bear 

beat 

because 

beautv 

bed 

bee 

been 

beg 

begging 

begged 

began 

begin 

beginning 

begun 

before 

behind 

behave 

behaved 

believe 

believed 

bell 

belong 

belt 

bend 

bent 

besides 

best 

bet 

better 

between 

Bible 

bicycle 

big 

bigger 

biggest 

bill 

bird 

birthday 

bitter 

bite 

bit 

black 

blackberries 

blade 

blame 

bled 

bleed 

blind 

blister 

blistered 

block 

blood 

bloody 

blow 

blowing 

blue 

board 

boat 

bobwhite 

boil 


boiled 
boiler 
bone 
bolt 
bonfire 
bonnet 
bony 
book 
boost 
boots 
bore 
bored 
borrow 
borrowed 
both 
bother 
bothered 
bottle 
bottom 
bounce 
bounced 
bouncing 
bow 
box 
boxes 
boy 

bought 
bound 
bowl 
braid 
branch 
branches 
brand 
bread 
break 
breakfast 
breast 
breath 
breathe 
breathing 
bridge 
bridle 
brick 
bright 
bring 
broke 
broken 
broom 
brother 
brought 
bruise 
bruised 
brush 
bubble 
bucket 
buckle 
buckled 
bud 
bug 
buggy 
build 
built 
bull 
bump 
bumped 
bun 
bunch 
bur 
burn 


burned 

burst 

bury 

buried 

bush 

bushes 

bushel 

busy 

but 

butcher 

butter 

butterfly 

buttermilk 

button 

buy 

buzz 

by 

cabbage 

cage 

cake 

calf 

calves 

call 

called 

calling 

came 

can 

candy 

can't 

cap 

car 

care 

careful 

careless 

card 

carpet 

carry 

carried 

carries 

cart 

cat 

catch 

caterpillar 

cattle 

caught 

cellar 

cent 

center 

chair 

chalk 

chance 

change 

changed 

chain 

chained 

chart 

chase 

chased 

chasing 

cheat 

cheating 

cheek 

cheese 

cherry 

cherries 

chew 

chewed 

chewing 

chicken 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


child 

crack 

door 

children 

creek 

double 

chimney 

cover 

dove 

chimneys 

covered 

down 

chin 

crawl 

dozen 

chop 

crawled 

drag 

chopped 

crawling 

dragged 

chopping 

cream 

dragging 

chores 

cradle 

drank 

church 

cracker 

draw 

churn 

crazy 

drawing 

churned 

creep 

dray 

churning 

crept 

dream 

Christmas 

crib 

dreamed 

cigar 

cried 

dreaming 

cigarette 

cricket 

dress 

cigarettes 

cry 

dressed 

circus 

crooked 

dressing 

city 

crop 

drew 

claim 

cross 

dried 

claimed 

crowd 

drink 

clap 

crow 

drinking 

clapped 

crowed 

drive 

class 

crowing 

driving 

claws 

crumb 

drop 

clean 

crust 

dropped 

clerk 

cup 

dropping 

climb 

cupboard 

drove 

climbed 

curly 

drown 

cloak 

curtain 

drowned 

clock 

cut 

drum 

close 

cutting 

drunk 

closet 

cute 

dry 

clothes 

damp 

duck 

cloud 

dandy 

dug 

cloudy 

dandies 

dull 

clover 

dare 

dust 

clown 

dark 

dusty 

coach 

day 

dying 

coaches 

dead 

each 

coast 

dear 

ear 

coasting 

deer 

early 

coal 

December 

earlier 

coat 

deep 

easy 

coax 

depot 

easier 

coaxed 

desk 

easiest 

cob 

did 

east 

coffee 

didn't 

eating 

cold 

dig 

eat 

collar 

digging 

edge 

color 

die 

edges 

colt 

died 

ess 

comb 

difference 

elbow 

combed 

different 

else 

combing 

dime 

either 

come 

dinner 

elephant    ' 

coming 

dipper 

end 

cook 

dirt 

engine 

cooked 

d  i'rty 

empty 

cooking 

dirtiest 

emptied 

cooky 

dirtier 

enough 

cookies 

dish 

erase 

cool 

dishes 

eraser 

core 

ditch 

even 

cork 

dizzy 

ever 

corn 

do 

every 

corner 

doctor 

everybody 

cost 

does 

everything 

cough 

doesn't 

excuse 

could 

doing 

excused 

couldn't 

dog 

eye 

count 

doll 

eyes 

counting 

dollar 

face 

country 

domino 

fairy 

cousin 

dominoes 

fair 

cow 

done 

fairies 

coward 

don't 

fairground 

fall 

falling 

far 

farthest 

farther 

farm 

farmer 

fast 

fasten 

fastened 

faster 

fastest 

father 

fault 

February 

feather 

fed 

feed 

feeding 

feel 

feeling 

felt 

feet 

fell 

fence 

fetch 

fever 

few 

held 

fight 

fighting 

figure 

fill 

filled 

filling 

find 

fine 

finger 

finish 

finished 

fire 

first 

fish 

fished 

fishing 

fist 

five 

fix 

fixed 

fixing 

flake 

flag 

flax 

flew 

flies 

fly 

float 

flock 

floor 

flour 

flower 

hying 

foam 

fodder 

fold 

follow 

followed 

following 

fool 

fooled 

fooling 

foot 

football 

for 

forenoon 

forget 

forgot 


MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


fork 

four 

fountain 

found 

fourth 

fox 

foxes 

fresh 

freeze 

freight 

friend 

freezing 

Friday 

fried 

frisky 

fry 

from. 

front 

frost 

froze 

frying 

full 

fudge 

fun 

funny 

funniest 

fuss 

fussing 

further 

fuzzy 

gain 

gallon 

game 

garden 

garter 

gate 

gave 

geese 

get 

getting 

girl 

give 

glad 

glass 

glasses 

glove 

gloves 

gnaw 

gnawing 

gnawed 

goat 

go 

God 

goes 

going 

gold 

gone 

good 

good-by 

goose 

gooseberries 

gopher 

got 

grab 

grabbed 

grass 

grasshopper 

grandma 

grandpa 

grapes 

gravy 

grease 

greasy 

great 

green 

grew 

grind 


grinding 

gristle 

ground 

grow 

growl 

growled 

guess 

guessed 

guessing 

gum 

gun 

hack 

had 

hailed 

hailing 

hair 

half 

halter 

halves 

hammer 

hammock 

hand 

handful 

handkerchief 

handle 

hang 

happen 

happened 

happy 

hard 

harness 

harnessed 

harvest 

has 

hat 

hatch 

hatched 

hatchet 

hat( 

hated 

haul 

hauled 

hauling 

have 

have     to 

having 

hawk 

hay 

harrow 

harrowed 

harrowing 

he 

head 

hear 

heard 

heart 

heavy 

heavier 

heaviest 

hedge 

heel 

held 

help 

helped 

helping 

hen 

her 

here 

hello 

hid 

hide 

high 

higher 

highest 

hill 

him 

hire 


hired 
herself 
himself 
his 
hiss 
hit 
hoe 

hoeing 
hog- 
hold 
home 
honest 
honey 
hood 
hook 
hooked 
hoop 
horse 
horn 
hot 
hotel 
hour 
house 
houses 
how 
howl 
howled 
hundred 
hung 
hungry 
hunt 
hunting 
hurry 
hurried 
hurt 
husk 
husked 
husking 
I 

ice 
if 
in 

inch 
inches 
Indian 
inside 
instead 
invite 
iron 
ironing 
ironed 
is 

isn't 
it 

itch 
itches 
its 

.iackrabbit 
jail 
jar 

jarred 
jelly 
Jesus 
jerk 
jerked 
juice 
jump 
jumped 
jumping 
just 
keep 
kept 
kettle 
kev 
kill 
killed 
kind 


king 

kiss 

kissed 

kitchen 

kite 

kitten 

knee 

knees 

knew 

knife 

knives 

knob 

knock 

knocked 

know 

knot 

knuckle 

knuckles 

ladder 

laid 

land 

lake 

lame 

lamb 

lamp 

language 

lantern 

lap 

lapped 

lapping 

large 

last 

late 

lath 

laugh 

laughed 

laughing 

lay 

lazy 

lead 

leading 

leaf 

leak 

lean 

leaves 

learn 

learned 

learning 

leather 

leave 

led 

leg 

leggings 

left 

lemon 

lemonade 

lend 

lent 

less 

lesson 

let 

letter 

lick 

licked 

licking 

lid 

lie 

lied 

lies 

light 

lighter 

life 

lightning 

like 

likes 

limb 

lion 


10 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


limp 

line 

lines 

lip 

listen 

listened 

listening 

little 

live 

lives 

load 

loaf 

loaves 

long 

longer 

longest 

lock 

locked 

lose 

loose 

lost 

look 

looked 

looking 

lot 

loud 

lounge 

love 

low 

lumber 

lump 

lucky 

lunch 

mad 

made 

mail 

make 

making 

mama 

man 

mane 

many 

marble 

march 

marched 

marching 

mark 

marked 

match 

matches 

may   be 

meadow 

me 

meal 

mean 

meant 

meat 

medicine 

melt 

melting 

meet 

melon 

men 

met 

mice 

middle 

might 

mile 

milk 

milked 

milking 

mill 

mind 

mine 

minnows 

millet 

minute 


minutes 

noon 

Miss 

nor 

miss 

north 

missed 

nose 

mitten 

not 

mix 

nothing 

mixing 

notion 

mixed 

now 

mock 

numb 

mocked 

nut 

mocking 

number 

Monday 

nurse 

money 

oak 

monkey 

oats 

monkeys 

oatmeal 

mole 

o'clock 

month 

of 

molasses 

off 

moon 

offer 

more 

offered 

morning 

often 

most. 

oil 

moss 

oiled 

mother 

oiling 

motion 

old 

mountain 

older 

mouse 

oldest 

mouth 

on 

move 

once 

moved 

one 

moving 

only 

mow 

open 

mowed 

opened 

mowing 

or 

Mr. 

orange 

Mrs. 

oranges 

much 

organ 

mud 

orchard 

muddy 

other 

mules 

ought 

muskmelon 

our 

music 

out 

mumps 

outside 

mush 

over 

muss 

overalls 

mussed 

owl 

must 

own 

my 

owned 

myself 

owner 

nail 

overcoat 

nailed 

overshoes 

name 

oyster 

nasty 

paddle 

naughty 

page 

near 

paid 

nearly 

pail 

neat 

paint 

neck 

painted 

need 

painting 

needle 

pair 

negro 

pan 

negroes 

pancake 

neighbor 

pansy 

neither 

pants 

nest 

pantry 

never 

papa 

new 

paper 

next 

papered 

nice 

papering 

nickel 

parade 

nickname 

parasol 

night 

park 

no 

parlor 

noise 

party 

noisy 

parties 

nobody 

parrot 

none 

part 

passed 
paste 
pasted 
pasture 
pat 

patted 
patch 
path 
paw 
.  pay 
peanut 
peach 
peaches 
pear 
peacock 
peas 
peck 
peel 
peeled 
peeling 
peep 
peeping 
peeped 
pen 
pencil 
people 
pepper 
period 
pet 
petted 
petting 
pelt 
pick 
picked 
picture 
piano 
pie 
pies 
pickle 
pickles 
picnic 
pig 
piece 
pieces 
pigeon 
pile 
pillow 
pin 
pine 
pinch 
pinched 
pinching 
pink 
pipe 
pint 
pitch 
pitcher 
pitching 
place 
places 
plate 
plates 
Play 
played 
players 
playing 
please 
plum 
Plus 
pocket 
pocketbook 
point 
pointing 
poor 
poorer 
poorest 


MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


11 


poison 

pole 

pond 

pony 

ponies 

pop 

popped 

porch 

post 

post  office 

potato 

potatoes 

pound 

pounding 

pour 

poured 

pouring 

pretty 

prettier 

prettiest 

prison 

prisoner 

pronounce 

pronounced 

pray 

prayed 

prayer 

present 

provie 

proved 

pudding 

puddle 

pull 

pulled 

pulling 

pumpkin 

pump 

pumped 

pumping 

pup 

puppy 

puppies 

punch 

punched 

push 

pushed 

pushing 

put 

purpose 

quack 

quail 

quarrel 

•quarreling 

question 

quick 

quicker 

quart 

quilt 

quit 

rabbit 

race 

rag 

ragged 

railroad 

rain 

rainbow 

raining 

rained 

raise 

raised 

raising 

rake 

ranch 

ran 

rang 

rather 

rattle 


rattled 

school 

sitting 

raw- 

scholar 

six 

reach 

scatter 

skate 

reached 

scattered 

skates 

read 

scissors 

skating 

ready 

scold 

skated 

reader 

scratch 

skin 

reading 

scratched 

skinned 

recess 

scrape 

skinning 

red 

scraped 

sky 

remember 

screen 

slam 

remembered 

screw 

slammed 

rent 

seat 

slap 

renter 

second 

slapped 

rest 

see 

sled 

ribbon 

sieed 

sleep 

rice 

seen 

sleeping 

rich 

sell 

sleigh 

ride 

send 

slept 

riding 

sent 

sleepy 

right 

sense 

slick 

ring 

separate 

slid 

ringing 

separator 

slide 

ripe 

set 

slip 

river 

sew 

slipped 

road 

sewed 

slipper 

rob 

sewing 

slippery 

robbed 

shake 

sliver 

robin 

shaking 

slice 

rock 

shade 

slices 

rocked 

shady 

slim 

rocking 

shadow 

slow 

rode 

sharp 

slower 

roll 

sharper 

small 

rolled 

shawl 

smaller 

rolling 

she 

smallest 

rompers 

shed 

smooth 

roof 

shell 

smoke 

room 

sheep 

smoking 

roost 

sheet 

smother 

rooster 

shelf 

smothered 

rope 

shelves 

snake 

rose 

shine 

snap 

roses 

shining     • 

snapped 

root 

ship 

snowed 

rotten 

shirt 

snowing 

round 

shiver 

snowball 

rough 

shivering 

sneeze 

row 

shivered 

sneezed 

rubber 

shoe 

so 

rug 

shoes 

soak 

ruler 

shoot 

soaked 

run 

shooting 

soap 

running 

shot 

socks 

runaway 

should 

soft 

rusty 

shove 

sold 

sack 

shoved 

some 

said 

shovel 

sometime 

sale 

shoveled 

somebody 

salt 

short 

something 

salty 

shorter 

song 

same 

shortest 

soon 

sand 

shook 

sore 

sandy 

shop 

sores 

Santa     Claus 

«    show 

sorry 

sap 

showed 

soup 

sat 

shoulder 

sour 

Saturday 

shut 

sound 

saucer 

sick 

south 

saw 

side 

sow 

sawed 

sidewalk 

sowed 

sawing 

silk 

sowing 

say 

since 

spade 

says 

sir 

speak 

scar 

sink 

speck 

scare 

sister 

speckled 

scared 

sit 

spell 

12 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


spelled 
spelling 
spend 
spent 
spider 
spoil 
spoiled 
spank 
spanked 
spin 
splint 
split 
spool 
spoon 
spoonful 
spoke 
spokes 
spot 
spotted 
spread 
spout 
sprout 
spring 
sprinkle 
sprinkling- 
square 
squirrel 
squeeze 
squeezed 
squeal 
squealed 
squealing" 
squirm 
squirmed 
squirt 
stalk 
stall 
stake 
stack 
stacked 
stamp 
star 
starve 
starved 
starving 
stable 
stairs 
stand 
spill 
spilled 
stagger 
staggered 
start 
starting 
stay 
stayed 
steal 
steam 
steep 
steer 
steered 
steering 
step 
stepped 
stem 
still 
stick 
sticky 
stingy 
stiff 

stockings 
stink 
stir 
stirred 
stirring 
stole 
stood 


stool 

stoop 

stooped 

stooping 

stout 

stork 

stone 

stop 

stopped 

store 

story 

stories 

stove 

straight 

straighten 

straightened 

strap 

strawberry 

strawberries 

straw 

stretch 

stretched 

street 

strike 

string 

struck 

stump 

sting 

study 

studies 

studied 

studying 

stung 

such 

suck 

sucking 

sucked 

sugar 

suit 

suited 

sum 

summer 

sun 

Sunday 

sung 

sunk 

sunny 

supper 

sure 

sweat 

sweater 

sweet 

sweeter 

swarm 

swallow 

swallowed 

swamp 

swear 

swearing 

sweep 

sweeping 

swept 

swelled 

swelling 

switch 

swim 

swimming 

swinging 

swing 

swore 

table 

tack 

taffy 

tag 

tail 

take 

taking 


talk 

talked 

talking 

tame 

tangle 

tangled 

tall 

tardy 

taste 

tasted 

tea 

teach 

teacher 

tear 

tearing 

tease 

teeter 

telephone 

tell 

ten 

than 
thank 

thanked 

Thanksgiving 

that 

the 

t  hie  re 

them 

themselves 

then 

their 

these 

they 

thick 

thief 

thing 

thimble 

think 

this 

third 

thirsty 

those 

though 

thought 

thousand 

thread 

three 

threw 

throat 

through 

throw 

throwing 

thumb 

thunder 

thundered 

thundering 

Thursday 

ticking 

tick 

tickle 

tickled 

tie 

tied 

tight 

tighter 

till 

timber 

t  i  me 

tin 

tip 

tipped 

tire 

thorn 

to 

toad 

toast 


tobacco 

today 

together 

toilet 

told 

tomato 

tomatoes 

tomorrow 

tonight 

too 

toe 

toes 

took 

tooth 

top 

tore 

torn 

tongue 

toss 

touch 

touched 

toward 

towel 

town 

toy 

track 

trade 

train 

tramp 

tree 

tried 

tries 

try       , 

trunk 

trying 

tub 

Tuesday 

turkey 

turkeys 

turn 

turned 

turning 

twice 
twist 

two 

umbrella 
uncle 
under 

unless 
until 

tip 

upon 

upset 

us 

use 

used 

used   to 

vacation 

very 

vest 

vine 

vines 

violet 

visit 

vomit 

vomiting 

vowel 

wade 

wading 

wagon 

wait 

waiting 

Avake 

waked 

walk 

walked 

walking 


MATERIAL   OF  ENGLISH   SPELLING 


13 


wall 

whack 

wider 

world 

want 

what 

wild 

worm 

warm 

whatever 

will 

worse 

warmed 

wheat 

wigwam 

worst 

warming 

wheel 

win 

worth 

wart 

when 

wind 

would 

was 

wherever 

winding 

wouldn't 

wash 

whether 

window 

wound 

washed 

which 

winter 

wrap 

washing 

while 

wipe 

wrapped 

wasp 

whinny 

wiped 

wraps 

watch 

whinnied 

wire 

wren 

watched 

whinnying 

wish 

wrestle 

water 

whip 

wished 

wrestled 

wave 

whipped 

with 

wrestling 

waves 

whipping 

without 

wrist 

wax 

whiskers 

woke 

write 

watermelon 

whisper 

wolf 

writing 

way 

whispered 

wolves 

wro  ng 

wear 

whispering 

woman 

wrote 

we 

whistle 

women 

yard 

Wednesday 

whistled 

won 

year 

weed 

whistling 

won't 

yellow 

week 

white 

wood 

yes 

weigh 

who 

word 

yesterday 

well 

whole 

wore 

yet 

went 

whose 

work 

you 

were 

why 

worked 

young 

west 

wide 

working 

your 

wet 

yourself 

THIRD  GRADE— Additional  Words. 


absent 

below 

copy 

acorn 

berry 

copied 

acre 

berries 

copies 

acres 

biscuit 

coyote 

act 

blaze 

coyotes 

addition 

blew 

cranberries 

aisle 

blizzard 

creamery 

alley 

blot 

crossing 

alike 

blotter 

crown 

allow 

body 

cu  rl 

allowed 

brains 

daisy 

almost 

brass 

daisies 

also 

brave 

dance 

angel 

brow 

danced 

anyway 

brown 

dancing 

arithmetic 

buffalo 

dandelion 

arrest 

bullet 

danger 

arrow 

bundle 

dangerous 

axle 

camel 

daub 

bald 

Cane 

daubed 

bale 

canned 

daytime 

baled 

canning 

deserve 

baked 

ease 

deserved 

baking 

catcher 

deserves 

banner 

catnip 

diamond 

barber 

cave 

dodge 

barley 

changing 

dodged 

baseball 

chestnuts 

donkey 

base 

chilly 

donkeys 

bat 

choose 

dough 

batter 

cider 

drawer 

bath 

cinder 

drawers 

bathe 

circle 

during 

bawl 

clear 

earn 

bawled 

clothing 

earned 

bawling 

cloth 

earth 

beautiful 

commerce 

eight 

become 

commenced 

eleven 

beef 

common 

elm 

beer 

conductor 

example 

beggar 

consonant 

except 

fade 

faded 

expect 

family 

fanned 

fanning 

fiddle 

fierce 

fifteen 

fifty 

file 

bled 

filing 

finally 

fiat 

flatten 

fleas 

fluffy 

fond 

food 

foolish 

forgetting 

fort 

forty 

fourteen 

freckles 

freckled 

fret 

fretting' 

frozen 

fruit 

garage 

geography 

ghost 

giant 

given 

glue 

gobble 

gobbled 

gobbLer 

grade 


14 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


grandmother 

nineteen 

rising 

thawing 

grandfather 

notch 

risk 

theater 

grain 

notches 

rod 

thin 

gray- 

obey 

roller 

tiger 

grocery 

obeyed 

saddle 

thirty 

groceries 

ocean 

sail 

thistle 

guinea 

odd 

sailed 

thrush 

hall 

oh 

sailing 

tools 

hardware 

onion 

sauce 

tough 

harp 

ostrich 

sausage 

tracked 

heat 

oven 

scoop 

trick 

heifer 

pale 

scooped 

trim 

herd 

passenger 

scream 

trimmed 

herding 

pasteboard 

screamed 

trimming 

hiccup 

pattern 

scrap 

trip 

hinge 

pavement 

scrub 

tripped 

hitch 

pearl 

scrubbed 

trough 

hitched 

pedal 

scrubbing 

truant 

hitching 

peddler 

sea 

true 

hive 

phone 

seven 

truly 

hives 

phonics 

shingles 

tumble 

hoarse 

plain 

shoemaker 

tumbled 

holiday 

plank 

shopping 

tumbler 

hollow 

plant 

shortstop 

turtle 

hollowed 

planter 

score 

twelve 

hollowing 

plaster 

shower 

twinkle 

hope 

plastered 

sight 

twinkling 

hose 

plastering 

sign 

twenty 

horseback 

pleasant 

silver 

understand 

hump 

pleased 

silent 

understood 

ill 

pledge 

sixteen 

unscrew 

ink 

plenty 

sixty 

untie 

into 

pod 

skillet 

valentine 

island 

poke 

skim 

valley 

jaw 

poker 

skimmed 

valleys 

jealous 

powder 

skimming 

varnish 

juicy 

practice 

skip 

vase 

July 

practiced 

skipped 

vases 

keg 

prairie 

skipping 

veil 

kennel 

praise 

sleeve 

visiting 

kernel 

praised 

sleeves 

visitor 

lack 

press 

soda 

voice 

lacked 

pressed 

sofa 

voices 

later 

preach 

soldier 

vote 

launch 

preached 

speaking 

wabble 

lawn 

preacher 

spike 

wabbly 

lilac 

preaching 

spikes 

waffles 

lime 

price 

splinter 

waiter 

loafing 

priest 

sponge 

watchman 

lonesome 

program 

stain 

weak 

losing 

promise 

starch 

weather 

loving 

promised 

stare 

welcome 

lying 

promote 

stared 

wharf 

mallet 

prop 

stirrup 

wheelbarrow 

manger 

pucker 

stitch 

whenever 

manners 

puckered 

stomach 

whisky 

manure 

puncture 

stripe 

whittle 

market 

punctured 

stripes 

whittling 

matter 

pure 

stuff 

whirl 

measure 

puzzle 

subtract 

whirled 

measured 

queer 

subtraction 

whirling 

mellow 

quiet 

suitcase 

whoa 

mimic 

quite 

suppose 

whom 

mimicking 

traces 

sweeten 

willow 

mimicked 

radish 

swollen 

windmill 

mop 

raisins 

tablet 

wink 

mopped 

recite 

tailor 

winked 

mosquito 

recited 

tally 

without 

mosquitoes 

remains 

tallies 

wooden 

mopping 

remainder 

tattle 

wool 

mucilage 

restaurant 

tattled 

wring 

multiply 

rider 

taught 

wringer 

multiplied 

rifle 

'  team 

written 

necktie 

rind 

tender 

yell 

news 

rise 

thaw 

yelled 

niece 

rises 

thawed 

zebra 

nine 

MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH   SPELLING 


15 


FOURTH  GRADE— Additional  Words. 


able 
accus-e 
accused 
age 
agent 

agriculture 
aim 
aiming 
album 
amount 
animal 
April 
attic 
author 
autumn 
awful 
awl 
bacon 
bag 

baggage 
bait 
bakery- 
bandage 
basement 
basketball 
battle 
beast 
beard 
beet 
blanket 
blown 
bluff 
bluffing 
bluffer 
born 
breeze 
boss 
bouquet 
bronco 
broth 
bully 
bureau 
business 
buck 
bucked 
cab 
cabin 
calendar 
camp 
camping 
canary 
canoe 
cape 
capital 
captain 
carriage 
catsup 
ceiling 
celery 
checkers 
chief 
chocolate 
chose 
chosen 
chunk 
cistern 
coarse 
coffin 
colony- 
colonies 
column 
comma 
command 
commerce 
company 


compass 

copper 

cornflakes 

cotton 

countries 

county 

croup 

cultivating 

cyclone 

daily 

date 

daughter 

deliver 

deny 

denied 

desert 

destroy 

determined 

direction 

discover 

discovered 

dismiss 

distance 

dive 

divide 

division 

dose 

double 

dove 

drainage 

drain 

drift 

drizzle 

drizzling 

drug 

dry   goods 

eaves 

electric 

enjoy 

envelope 

equator 

escape 

evening 

examination 

explain 

explore 

explored 

fare 

faucet 

fellow 

fern 

ferry 

flood 

fore 

forehead 

foreign 

forest 

forgive 

forgave 

forbid 

fought 

foundation 

frighten 

frightened 

frontier 

froth 

furnace 

furniture 

gape 

gas 

gather 

gaping 

gilt 

gipsy 

giraffe 


gnat 

nature 

goal 

nieces 

gouge 

northwest 

gouged 

note 

governor 

notes 

grammar 

November 

granary 

numbered 

grave 

October 

graphophone 

office 

greatest 

order 

group 

oriole 

grown 

ourselves 

guard 

parents 

guarding 

patient 

guide 

pave 

guilty 

peace 

habit 

peninsula 

Hallowe'en 

perch 

harbor 

perfume 

heal 

person 

healed 

pilgrims 

healing 

pioneer 

healthy 

pit 

hero 

plague 

heroes 

plane 

hinder 

planed 

history 

plateau 

hurricane 

platform 

hygiene 

pleasure 

hymn 

plume 

idle 

plunge 

important 

pluck 

irrigate 

plucky 

irrigation 

plunging 

isthmus 

poem 

Jack-o'-lantern 

pool 

January 

pork 

jewels 

poultice 

jolly 

postal 

June 

prepare 

ladies 

prepared 

lady 

pranks 

lane 

president 

layer 

pretend 

lead    (led) 

prettily 

length 

prize 

lettuce 

problem 

level 

product 

library 

professor 

lighted 

profit 

.livery 

proof 

luncheon 

purple 

machine 

proud 

maggot 

putty 

manufacture 

queen 

manufacturing 

quotient 

March 

radiator 

master 

railing 

matting 

ravel 

May 

raveled 

mention 

real 

merry 

reason 

miner 

receive 

mining 

received 

minus 

recitation 

mist 

rein 

misting 

reindeer 

mistress 

related 

moonlight 

relieve 

motor 

relieved 

musclie 

remained 

muscles 

repeat 

mustard 

replied 

mulberry 

reply 

natural 

risked 

16 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OP  THE 


review 
revolver 
rinse 
rinsed 
rivet 
roan 
rover 
rule 

Sabbath 
sad 
safe 
sage 
salad 
salute 
sake 
satisfied 
satchel 
saucy- 
scald 
savage 
scale 
scalp 
scalped 
scarf . 
scarred 
scorch 
scorched 
scowl 
scowled 
scramble 
scrambled 
scum 
scythe 
secretary 
seem 
seemed 


sensible 

strangle 

trotter 

sentence 

strangled 

travel 

September 

stubborn 

traveled 

settle 

succeed 

treat 

settler 

sudden 

trouble 

severe 

supply 

truth 

shelter 

strong 

turnip    » 

shepherd 

suffered 

twig 

sherbet 

supposed 

umpire 

signed 

surely 

useful 

silly 

surprise 

useless 

simple 

surprised 

vegetables 

single 

swam 

view 

size 

swan 

velvet 

snag 

sword 

victory 

soil 

syrup 

village 

soiled 

tale 

vinegar 

solid 

tar 

vaccinated 

son 

target 

walnut 

soirrel 

telegram 

wander 

source 

telegraph 

wandered 

spare 

term 

waste 

special 

thirteen 

weave 

spinach 

thrash 

wedding 

sprint 

thrashed 

wedge 

sprinter 

thrashing 

weight 

spry 

ticket 

wonder 

state 

tissue     paper 

wondered 

squash 

torture 

wondering 

squeak 

torch 

woolen 

station 

tower 

woolly 

steady 

trapeze 

worry 

sfceak 

trap 

worried 

steeple 

trigger 

wrench 

strait 

trot 

zero. 

striped 

FIFTH  GRADE— Additional  Words. 


accept 

beefsteak 

cobweb 

disappoint 

account 

beneath 

collect 

disease 

address 

bidding 

collection 

disgrace 

adjective 

bloom 

comet 

dispute 

adverb 

blossom 

complain 

dividend 

advertise 

blush 

compliment 

divisible 

advertisement 

blushed 

composition 

divisor 

agree 

boundary 

concert 

doubt 

agreed 

briar 

conjunction 

doubtful 

albumen 

bristled 

contrary 

drill 

alarm 

bristle 

coop 

drilled 

alarmed 

broad 

couple 

duet 

alcohol 

brook 

course 

earnest 

alum 

bunt 

crayon 

echo 

aloud 

bunting 

crank 

echoes 

alphabet 

cackle 

crimson 

elevator 

although 

cackled 

cripple 

empties 

altogether 

cackling 

croquet 

encourage 

ambush 

cafe 

cruel 

enemy 

amuse 

canal 

crutch 

enemies 

amusing 

cancer 

cucumber 

engineer 

analyze 

cannon 

cuffs 

escape 

angry 

capture 

cutter 

escaped 

anxious 

captured 

customer 

especially 

article 

cash 

debt 

evening 

artist 

cashier 

deceive 

excursion 

articles 

carrot 

deceitful 

exercise 

artificial 

cause 

decorate 

explanation 

athlete 

cedar 

democrat 

exactly 

athletics 

cement 

dentist 

explode 

auction 

cereals 

denominator 

extra 

audience 

choioe 

diagram 

factor 

basin 

chorus 

dictionary 

factories 

beach 

civilized 

disagree 

factory 

beau 

clay 

dim 

fail 

become 

climate 

dining 

failed 

MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH  SPELLING 


17 


failing- 

knitting 

police 

faint 

lain 

polite 

faithful 

lard 

polish 

fault 

laundry 

polished 

favorite 

lawyer 

predicate 

fellow 

least 

preposition 

fertile 

lily 

pride 

fife 

lilies 

price 

fifth 

limber 

principal 

fitted 

letting 

print 

flows 

lining 
liquid 

procession 

flutter 

pronoun 

fluttered 

madam 

proper 

form 

marshal 

prunes 

formed 

mercy 

punish 

forth 

married 

punished 

fortune 

main 

quickly 

fraction 

mask 

quietly 

fragrant 

marshy 

quotation 

frigid 

marshes 

rack 

fringe 

mate 

raid 

f  unable 

marry 

range 

funeral 

mess 

raspberry 

furnish 

meeting 

razor 

furnished 

miere 

really 

gallery 

merely 

receipt 

gargle 

mighty- 

reckless 

gasoline 

mineral 

recollect 

gentleman 

mischief 

reckon 

gentlemen 

mischievous 

reduce 

gland 

moan 

refuse 

globe 

moaned 

respect 

government 

mower 

respectfully 

grief 

multiple 

result 

grieve 

multiplicand 

return 

grudge 

multiplier 

returned 

grunt 

murder 

rheumatism 

guest 

murdered 

revenge 

gulf 

murderer 

ridge 

hare 

moment 

roar 

hazel 

musician 

roared 

hearing 

mustang 

roaring 

heaven 

muzzle 

rubbish 

height 

muzzled 

saliva 

hickory- 

nation 

sash 

homely 

national 

scamp 

horrid 

necklace 

scamper 

horrible 

nerve 

scavenger 

h  out  or 

notice 

scene 

horizon 

noticed 

scenery 

hostile 

nostril 

scheme 

hospital 

noun 

section 

hurrying 

nozzle 

seam 

illustrate 

nuisance 

seal 

independence 

numerator 

sealed 

independent 

pacify 

several 

indeed 

palm 

shallow 

industrious 

paragraph 

sewer 

industry 

parsnip 

shape 

injure 

participate 

shaped 

injured 

patriot 

shipped 

injury 

perhaps 

shoal 

innocent 

peony 

shave 

' interest 

phrase 

shaved 

intend 

physiology 

shaving 

ivy 

pity 

6  hock 

Jew 

pitied 

shore 

jolt 

plan 

shown 

judge 

planmed 

shy 

journal 

platter 

signature 

kindling 

plump 

simply 

knit 

poisoned 

sincere 

sincerely 

smear 

smeared 

smile 

smiled 

smiling 

snail 

sneak 

sneaked 

span 

sort 

spear 

Spice 

sparkle 

.spire 

sprung 

stanza 

staple 

strange 

stranger 

streak 

strip 

stripped 

style 

stylish 

source 

stock 

strung 

subject 

supplies 

surrender 

surrendered 

surround 

tackle 

tank 

tap 

tapped 

tassel 

temper 

temperate 

temperature 

test 

text 

thermometer 

threat 

threaten 

tile 

timothy 

torrid 

township 

training 

trickles 

trowel 

troop 

tunic 

tune 

typewriter 

upper 

usual 

veins 

verse 

verb 

vessel 

volcano 

volcanoes 

voyage 

waist 

width 

wither 

wife 

withered 

wine 


18 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


SIXTH  GRADE— Additional  Words. 


abbreviation 

absence 

abuse 

abused 

acid 

advice 

advise 

admission 

affoird 

aid  t 

ailing 

airing 

alligator 

almanac 

alto 

ambulance 

antarctic 

apt 

appetite 

arctic 

area 

arrange 

arranged 

arranging 

arrive 

arrived 

artery' 

assist 

assistance 

attack 

attacked 

attempt 

attention 

avenue 

awkward 

badge 

bamboo 

bandaged 

Baptist 

bargain 

bayou 

1"  -an  ties 

beyond 

birth 

boast 

border 

brakeman 

breadth 

brief 

brood 

bulge 

byword 

calico 

calm 
casket 
'  a.tarrh 
catechism 
caution 
cautioned 
canker 
caper 
capsize 
carpenter 
nan  e 
celluloid 
centra] 
certain 
channel 
charcoal 
charge 
charm 
Chin< 

chattering 
choir 
cheer 
red 


chicken    pox 

china 

cipher 

clam 

collision 

coconut 

college 

colonel 

compare 

comparison 

conquer 

conquered 

continue 

continued 

correct 

consent 

conscious 

contain 

contained 

cont< 

control 

000 

cooing 

cottage 

counterfeit 

court 

credit 

orew 

crotch 

cunning 

currant 

cushion 

custard 

custom 

customary 

damage 

decide 

decimal 

defeat 

dent 

ribe 
description 
dew 
digest 
digestion 
disguise 
disguised 
disturb 
disturbed 
druggist 
drained 
dumb 
dump 
dumped 
dunce 
dwarf 
dye 
dyed 
dyeing 
embroidery 
emigrant 

red 
i  ntertain 
'■nt  i-ance 
Bngll&h 
equal 
Eskimo 
excel 
excellent 
evergreen 
expel 
expelled 
explosion 
expresj 


favor 
female 
fireproof 
Haines 
flavor 
fled 
flee 

forefinger 
forward 
frown 
gawk 
gawked 
gender 
eral 
giggling 
gloomy 
gossip 
gossiping 
gown 
gradually 
grave] 
grazing 
grit 
gritty 
groan 
herb 
holy 
hoping 
huge 

humming 
hurdle 
hurdling 
hyphen 
icicle 
ignorant 
Imagine 
imagined 
impatient 
importance 
improve 
improved 
inquire 
Isle 

joined 

joint 

journey 

knead 

knoll 

labor 

legislature 

leaped 

liquor 

list 

lively 

loop 

looped 

lungs 

lye 

magazine 

maid 

male 

maple 

margin 

material 

manage 

meanness 

measles 

meddle 

mend 

Methodist 

merchant 

metal 

midnight 


mince 

mirror 

misspell 

mistake 

mistaken 

moist 

moisture 

mound 

modify 

mourn 

mourning 

mortar 

mutter 

mysterious 

necessary 

neighborhood 

neighboring 

nephew 

neuter 

ninth 

ninety 

noodles 

obedient 

obllg  d 

i  -ionally 
oceanic 
odor 
omit 
omitted 
ooze 
orphan 
ounce 
package 
panel 
parcel 
parallel 
partial 
particular 
patience 
pause 
pebble 

ish 
photograph 
plantain 
plural 
plush 

pneumonia 
poodle 
possible 
possibly 
precious 

preferred 

principle 

privilege 

promotion 

prophesy 

prophet 

puny 

purse 

pyramid 

quinine 

rapid 

rebel 

rebellion 

refrigerator  * 

rehearse 

rehearsal 

reign 

relative 

remark 

repent 

report 

remedy 

resemble 


MATERIAL  OF  ENGLISH   SPELLING 


IS 


retreat 

shipping 

stewed 

traveler 

rime 

shout 

stewing 

treacherous 

ridicule 

shriek 

strength 

trout 

ridiculous 

shrieked 

student 

trousers 

ripple 
rival 

shudder 

stumble 

typhoid 

shuddered 

stumbled 

unconscious 

rivalry 

sieve 

success 

ugly 

roast 

sift 

successful 

union 

route 

skeleton 

suitable 

vain 

rude 

slave 

summary 

vaseline 

ruffle 

slavery 

summit 

vault 

rumor 

slay 

superintendent 

victim 

rush 

slouchy 

surface 

violin 

rushed 

snatch 

syllable 

vulgar 

Russian 

snatched 

talkative 

warrior 

safety 

snort 

tape 

wieary 

sample 

snub 

taper 

wealthy 

sandwich 

snubbed 

taunt 

wheeled 

satin 

■her 

b-rrible 

wicked 

satisfy 

sole 

ope 

willing 

scaroe 

solve 

fore 

warn 

season 

solved 

thirst 

worship 

secret 

soprano 

thorough 

witch 

select 

southern 

thrown 

wonderful 

senator 

Spanish 

title 

wreath 

sermon 

speech 

timid 

wrestler 

ant 

ndid 

ler 

wrinkle 

shear 

sport 

trait 

ist 

shears 

spy 

trail 

yield 

shield 

trash 

zinc 

ling 

stew 

traveling 

zone 

SEVENTH  GRADE 

— Additional  Words. 

ird 

me 

1  Inually 

disobeyed 

accent 

brittle 

-ider 

dread 

lent 

brownish 

Mdered 

try 

nmodate 

brum 

convenience 

drawn 

rate 

bu«fl 

venicnt 

drouth 

acquainted 

burial 

courage 

dumpling 

acquaintance 

icel 

mp 

easily 

acquire 

lion 

uped 

eff« 

■  ted 

:idate 

crease 

effort 

advantage 

canyon 

ised 

elect 

vate 

canvas 

cupola 

election 

nee 

ible 

current 

employ 

ambition 

capillary 

curse 

endure 

amusement 

capsule 

curve 

entirely     • 

anatomy 

cartilage 

czar 

envy 

annual 

cartridge 

dairy 

essence 

antecedent 

cease 

daybreak 

examine 

apparently 

ised 

deal 

exception 

apostrophe 

cell 

dealing 

■ite 

apparatus 

cemetery 

dealt 

excitement 

apply 

century 

death 

.  •  lamatory 

applied 

census 

decent 

exhibit 

approach 

challenge 

deed 

expand 

approached 

challenged 

declarative 

expense 

arbor 

chapter 

definite 

experience 

arouse 

Christ 

defend 

extract 

aroused 

cinnamon 

definition 

failure 

asparagus 

circumference 

depend 

false 

ssin 

cloves 

depth 

falsehood 

ssinatlon 

clumsy 

descend 

favorite 

altitude 

cocoa 

despise 

fear 

balance 

compound 

despised 

feminine 

balanced 

compel 

destroyed 

festival 

banquet 

compelled 

diameter 

fickle 

barley 

coil 

direct 

filthy 

beneath 

coiled 

disappear 

fisheries 

berth 

complaint 

disappeared 

flannel 

blond 

complete 

discus 

flatter 

blonde 

conceit 

dissatisfied 

flash 

blunder 

confess 

dishonest 

fleecy 

bluing 

confessed 

disobey 

flimsy 

bologna 

conduct 

_♦ 

foreigners 

20 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


fortunate 

frequent 

French 

furious 

future 

generally 

genius 

geranium 

German 

geyser 

ginger 

glycerine 

govern 

gracious 

grange 

grizzly 

grumble 

guitar 

gutter 

gymnastics 

haze 

hazing 

hint 

honor 

hoof 

imaginary 

invmsediately 

immense 

impatient 

imperative 

import 

impossible 

indigestible 

infinitive 

inflamed 

initial 

insult 

interrupt 

interrogative 

intransitive 

introduce 

invitation 

jacket 

judgment 

kangaroo 

kerosene 

knowledge 

lane 

lattice 

leisure 

liberty 

license 

linen 

lieutenant 

literature 

litter 

longitude 

locket 

machinery 

mackintosh 

masculine 

massacre 

massacred 


medal 

m'iscroscope 
milliner 
millinery 
military 
missionary 
miser 
misery 
modern 
moment 
modest 
mold 
mood 
museum 
mustache 
mumble 
mumbling 
narrow- 
neigh 
neighing 
nervous 
netting 
newspaper 
nominative 
noble 
nonsense 
noose 
object 
occasion 
occupy 
occur 
occurred 
offend 
offense 
opera 
opponent 
oppose 
opposed 
opportunity 
opposite 
outrage 
overbearing 
overlap 
oxygen 
palace 
pardon 
pare 
parse 
parsed 
past 
pauper 
peaceful 
peasant 
peculiar 
pension 
permit 
permitted 
persuade 
petticoat 
pierce 
pierced 
pitiful 
pincers 


popular 

possession 

poultry 

presume 

prey 

proceed 

probably 

protect 

pronunciation 

prose 

proverb 

provoke 

provoked 

psalm 

pulley 

pulleys 

punctual 

punctuality 

pursue 

pursued 

quarry 

racket 

radius 

rank 

ransack 

rascal 

ratio 

rate 

region 

regular 

regret 

regretted 

require 

reprove 

reproof 

render 

request 

repel 

repelled 

representative 

reservoir 

republic 

resent 

revolutionary 

revival 

rosin 

reward 

satisfactory 

science 

Scotch 

scribble 

scribbled 

search 

searched 

semester 

seize 

shrewd 

shrink 

shrub 

siege 

sleet 

social 

society 


sorrow 

specimen 

sphere 

spiral 

sprain 

sprained 

squad 

stage 

statement 

streaked 

struggle 

struggled 

stupid 

subordinate 

suburb 

support 

supplied 

suspicious 

Swedes 

swift 

syringe 

system 

tact 

tariff 

tarry 

tarried 

tedious 

territory 

tidy 

tomb 

topic 

total 

treason 

tremble 

trembled 

treasure 

transitive 

triple 

triangle 

truthful 

tube 

twentieth 

twilight 

tyrant 

uncivilized 

upheld 

uphold 

usually 

vacant 

valuable 

venture 

villain 

wholly 

warp 

warped 

weapon 

whiz 

whizzed 

whizzing 

witness 

wilderness 

wretch 

wretched 


EIGHTH  GRADE— Additional  Words. 


ability 

abroad 

abscess 

abundant 

abundance 

accompany 

accompanied 

"accustomed 

acknowledge 


according 

adverbial 

aeroplane 

affected 

affection 

affair 

agreeable 

almonds 

ammunition 


anarchist 

ancient 

angle 

announce 

announced 

announcement 

annoy 

annoyed 

apologize 


apology 

appearance 

appendicitis 

appoint 

argument 

arrangement 

arrival 

assessor 

association 


MATERIAL  OP  ENGLISH   SPELLING 


21 


assure 

assured 

asylum 

atmosphere 

attend 

attendant 

attendance 

attorney 

attractive 

attraction 

auxiliary 

average 

avoid 

bachelor 

ballot 

baptize 

bass 

benefit 

benefited 

behavior 

blockade 

boisterous 

bosom 

bleach 

bleached 

brace 

cabinet 

camphor 

campaign 

capable 

capillaries 

career 

cartoon 

catalogue 

Catholic 

chauffeur 

changeable 

character 

check 

checked 

childish 

chisel 

chloroform 

Christian 

civil 

civilization 

citizen 

clothe 

clothed 

colorless 

colon 

comfort 

comfortable 

comical 

commencement 

commercial 

committee 

companion 

companies 

complexion 

confederate 

condemn 

condition 

conceive 

concern 

connect 

conscience 

conscientious 

consequence 

considerable 

constitution 

convert 

converted 

corpse 

corrupt 

corset 

criticise 


criticised 
criticism 
crochet 
crocheted 

lty 
cruise 
cruised 
crystal 
curious 
cylinder 
dairying 
daughter 
dawn 
decision 
declaration 
defense 
delighted 
department 
desire 
detest 
desperate 
d  e  v  i  1 

diaphragm 
dialogue 
diploma 
diet 

disappointment 
disciple 
discipline 
discourage 
discuss 
discussed 
discussing 
disgust 
display 
dispute 
diphtheria 
distribute 
distinguish 
distinguished 
drifted 
duet 
due 
1  u  ty 
.?ager 
earliest 
eclipse 
education 
embarrass 
embarrassed 
emphasize 
emphasized 
emphasis 
i  vor 
endeavored 
endure 
endured 
endurance 
energy 
essay 
evaporate 
execute 
executive 

-rgerate 
exert 

exhausted 
expedition 
extraordinary 
extravagant 
extreme 
extremely 
familiar 
famous 
fashion 
fearful 
feeble 
fender 


felon 

fiction 

fiend 

fiery 

fugitive 

fully 

function 

gaiety 

gamble 

gambler 

garret 

garrison 

gay 

gentle 

genuine 

gingham 

glorious 

glimpse 

glisten 

greatly 

guardian 

handsome 

haste 

hasty 

hastily 

hereafter 

horizontal 

hobble 

however 

humbug 

hurriedly 

idea 

illness 

ignorance 

immoral 

immortal 

impose 

inauguration 

incorrect 

income 

incomplete 

inch 

inclosed 

inconvenience 

inconvenient 

inflammation 

influence 

inner 

impudent 

insane 

insect 

institute 

instinct 

intelligent 

intelligence 

intestine 

invalid 

investigate 

irregular 

jewelry 

jury 

kindness 

laboratory 

lark 

latter 

lecture 

leopard 

liable 

literary 

lovable 

lyeeum 

macaroni 

marriage 

member 

meridian 

message 

moral 


mortal 

mortally 

mortgage 

movement 

muslin 

murmur 

neglect 

neuralgia 

nightmare 

nourish 

nourishment 

obtain 

obtained 

observe 

obs<  rved 

observation 

opinion 

oration 

ordinarily 

originally 

orchestra 

ornamental 

parallelogram 

paralysis 

parliament 

particle 

particularly 

partition 

patent 

penmanship 

pennant 

percentage 

performance 

permission 

perpendicular 

personal 

physical 

physician 

pleasing 

political 

politics 

power 

practical 

precise 

premium 

prevent 

preparation 

private 

privately 

profession 

profane 

produce 

prompt 

propose 

proposed 

Protestant 

prospect 

public 

pulverize 

pulse 

pursuit 

quality 

quantity 

quarantine 

quartet 

realize' 

recent 

■tion 
recipe 
recommend 
recognize 
reduction 
refer 
referred 
regard 
reinforce 


22 


CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 


reinforced 

relief 

religion 

religious 

repeal 

repealed 

repair 

repaired 

remiedy 

remnant 

reputation 

residence 

resort 

respect 

respectable 

responsible 

responsive 

retire 

retired 


rhinoceros 

ridicule 

ridiculed 

robbery 

safely 

salary 

salmon 

sanitary 

sarcastic 

sardines 

scarlet 

secret 

secede 

secretary 

secure 

secured 

seldom 

semicolon 

senate 


serious 

sensitive 

serve 

service 

shark 

sheriff 

sirloin 

skilful 

solo 

souvenir 

spirit 

sufficient 

suggest 

suggestion 

suitable 

sulphur 

sympathy 

sympathize 

tempt 


temptation 

tenor 

transfer 

transparent 

transplant 

treasury 

trifle 

unfortunate 

unite 

university 

utter 

variety 

ventilate 

ventilation 

volume 

wealth 

wreck 

wrecked 


Summary  of  Number  of  Words  in  Foregoing  Lists. 


2nd  grade  .... 
3rd  grade — new 
4th  grade — new 
5th  grade — new 
6th  grade — new 
7th  grade — new 
Sth  grade — new 


• .  .  1927  words 

words  added  to  2nd  grade  list  469  words 
words  added  to  previous  lists  442  words 
words  added  to  previous  lists  432  words 
words  added  to  previous  list*  425  words 
words  added  to  previous  lists  419  words 
words  added  to  previous  lists  418  words 


Total   4,532  words 

The  striking  thing  in  this  summary  is  the  relatively 
large  list  of  the  second  grade.  This  is  due  to  the  wide 
variation  among  the  individual  vocabularies,  as  may  be 
seen  by  comparing  this  data  with  that  presented  in  the 
two  following  tables. 

The  number  of  words  listed  per  student  ranged  from 
431  for  the  most  meager  vocabulary  of  the  students  of 
the  second  grade  to  2,812  for  the  largest  vocabulary  of 
the  eighth  grade  students.  The  largest  vocabulary  of  the 
second  grade  students  was  924,  and  the  smallest  vocabu- 
lary of  the  eighth  grade  students  was  1,409.  The  average 
number  of  different  words  in  the  writing  vocabularies  of 
the  students,  grade  by  grade,  was  as  follows: 


MATERIAL   OF  ENGLISH   SPELLING  23 

Average  Vocabulary  by  Grades. 

Grade  Number  of  Words 

2 521 

3 908 

4 1,235 

5 1,489 

6 1,710 

7 1,926 

8 2,135 

There  were  no  significant  variations  in  the  number 

of  words  from  the  students  of  the  various  states. 

* Distribution  of  Words  Used  in  Common 

Five  hundred  and  twenty-four  words  out  of  the  total 
list  ( 1,927 )  for  the  second  grade  were  used  by  50  per  cent 
of  the  second  grade  students. 

Six  hundred  and  fifty- five  additional  words  (1,179 
in  all)  were  used  by  40  per  cent  of  the  third  grade  stu- 
dents. 

Seven  hundred  and  fifty-four  additional  words  still 
(1,933  in  all)  were  used  by  30  per  cent  of  fourth  grade 
students. 

Seven  hundred  and  sixty-nine  additional  words  still 
(2,702  in  all)  were  used  by  20  per  cent  of  fifth  grade  stu- 
dents. 

Seven  hundred  and  fifty  additional  words  still  (3,452 
in  all)  were  used  by  10  per  cent  of  sixth  grade  students. 

Five  hundred  and  seventy-eight  additional  words  still 
(4,030  in  all)  were  used  by  6  per  cent  of  seventh  grade 
students. 

Five  hundred  and  two  additional  words  still  (4,532 
in  all)  were  used  by  2  per  cent  of  eighth  grade  students. 

The  misspelled  words  were  listed  for  each  student. 
Practically  every  word  in  the  list  of  4,532  was  misspelled 
by  some  one  or  more  students;  yet  the  highest  number  of 


* — A  spelling-  book  based  on  this  distribution,  and  giving  these  words, 
grade  for  grade,  together  with  valuable  suggestions  on  the  modern 
methods   of   teaching    spelling,    is    published    by    The    Capital    Supply 

Co.,    Pierre,    South    Dakota. 


24  CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OP  THE 

words  misspelled  by  any  one  student  was  87,  the  smallest 
number  18.  The  average  number  of  words  misspelled  by 
the  1,050  students  was  48. 

The  words  bearing  the  distinction  of  being  the  most 
frequently  misspelled  three  words  are  "which,"  "their/1 
and  "there."  These  words  are  apparently  the  arch-de- 
mons of  English  spelling.  The  two  words  "their"  and 
"there"  together  were  misspelled  612  times.  The  word 
"which"  was  misspelled  321  times,  hence  it  is  probably  the 
most  distinguished  word  in  English  misspelling.  The 
word  "separate,"  believed  by  many  teachers  to  hold  the 
foregoing  distinction,  was  misspelled  283  times;  and  it 
holds  fourth  place  in  the  dishonor  roll.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  all  four  of  these  words  appear  in  the  second 
grade  list,  and  it  is  suggestive  to  note  that  they  continue 
to  be  freely  misspelled  throughout  the  grades.  Indeed, 
the  very  words  that  give  most  trouble  in  spelling  are  al- 
most invariably  found  in  the  second  or  third  grade  lists, 
and  faithfully  reappear  throughout  the  subsequent  years. 
Over  nine-tenths  of  all  words  misspelled  by  the  1,050 
grade  students  are  found  in  these  two  lists;  and  this  fact 
is  very  suggestive  to  teachers  in  spelling.  The  second 
grade  list  also  contains  the  very  useful  words  of  all 
grades.  This  latter  fact  is  in  agreement  with  the  data 
presented  by  *Ayres  in  his  recent  study  of  the  spelling 
vocabularies  of  personal  and  business  letters. 


MATERIAL   OP  ENGLISH   SPELLING 


25 


The    following   common    words    undoubtedly    consti- 
tute the  worst : 

ONE  HUNDKED  SPELLING  DEMONS  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 


(Order  not  significant  after  first  four.) 


which 

used 

their 

always 

there 

where 

separate 

women 

don't 

done 

meant 

hear 

business 

here 

many 

write 

friend 

writing 

some 

heard 

been 

does 

since 

once 

making 

tired 

dear 

grammar 

guess 

minute 

says 

any 

having 

much 

just 

beginning 

doctor 

blue 

whether 

though 

believe 

coming 

knew 

early 

laid 

instead 

tear 

easy 

choose 

through 

•—See    Bibli 

ography,    page    29. 

would 

can't 

sure 

loose 

lose 

Wednesday 

country 

February 

know 

could 

seems 

Tuesday 

every 

t !  1  e  y 

half 

break 

buy 

again 

very 

none 

week 

often 

whole 

won't 

cough 


wear 

answer 

two 

too 

ready 

forty 

hour 

trouble 

among 

busy 

built 

color 

piece 

straight 

sugar 

shoes 

enough 

truly 

ache 

tonight 

hoarse 

said 

wrote 

read 


2  6  CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OP  THE 

Names  of  Persons  and  Places. 

It  will  be  noted  that  proper  nouns  indicating  persons 
and  places  have  been  omitted  from  the  lists.  They  have 
been  omitted  on  account  of  the  extreme  \ariation  among 
the  individual  lists  of  students.  These  names  are  so  thor- 
oughly a  matter  of  individual  experience  that  even  such 
apparently  familiar  names  as  George,  Harry,  Henry,  Chi- 
cago, etc.,  failed  to  get  into  hundreds  of  individual  lists. 
Each  student  uses  the  names  of  his  acquaintance,  and 
since  acquaintances  vary  widely,  the  names  symbolizing 
them  also  vary  widely.  This  fact  is  paralleled  by  the  fur- 
ther fact  that  such  words  as  gopher,  prairie,  jackrabbit, 
coyote,  and  so  on,  are  very  common  in  the  Iowa  and  South 
Dakota  lists,  but  are  never  met  with  in  the  Illinois  and 
Maryland  lists.  Each  locality  has  its  own  list  of  names 
that  one  could  easily  predict  if  acquainted  in  the  locality. 

.   Transient  Words. 

Every  grade  has  its  list  of  transient  words.  Such 
words  as  multiplicand,  divisible,  parse,  cancellation,  ad- 
verbial, and  so  on,  appear  in  the  lists  for  one  or  two  or 
three  grades,  and  then  disappear.  Since  this  research  is 
now  being  extended  to  include  high  school  and  college 
vocabularies,  a  better  account  of  transient  words  may  be 
better  given  when  those  lists  are  published. 

There  is  another  class  of  changes  in  vocabularies 
which  we  may  call  mutations.  Such  words  as  automobile, 
garage,  appendicitis,  aeroplane,  sanitary,  chauffeur,  hob- 
ble, and  so  on,  are  common  in  the  recent  themes,  but  rare 
or  missing  from  the  themes  written  eight  years  ago  when 
this  research  was  started.  Other  words,  such  as  buggy, 
surrey,  phaeton,  rhubarb,  crochet,  cupola,  dyeing,  and 
so  on,  are  apparently  disappearing,  and  the  change  is  evi- 
dent even  in  the  brief  space  of  eight  years.  .  The  once 
troublesome  words,  dye,  dyed,  and  dyeing,  may  soon  dis- 
appear from  spelling  lists. 

Writing  Vocabularies  Linger  Behind  Other  Vocabularies. 

Another  fact  of  large  importance  intrudes  in  all  lists 


MATERIAL   OF  ENGLISH   SPELLING  27 

of  this  study;  namely,  the  writing  vocabulary  of  any  stu- 
dent lingers  behind  the  auditory,  visual,  and  lingual  vo- 
cabularies for  one,  two,  three,  or  even  more  years.  Any 
one  may  discover  this  fact  for  himself  by  comparing  the 
total  lists  of  words  for  any  grade  with  the  average  of  the 
individual  vocabularies  of  that  grade.  There  are  over 
1,900  words  in  the  list  for  the  second  grade,  and  there  is 
scarcely  a  word  in  this  list  but  that  any  second  grade 
child  would  recognize  in  his  reader,  and  understand  if 
used  in  his  hearing.  The  fact  is,  these  words  are  in  quite 
common  use  in  the  oral  language  of  the  grade,  and  stu- 
dents actually  use  words  more  freely  in  speaking  than  in 
writing.  Writing  is  a  more  recently  formed  habit,  and  it 
takes  time  for  it  to  become  a  ready  tool  of  communication. 
The  average  number  of  words  in  the  writing  vocabularies 
of  the  second  grade  students,  as  shown  by  the  preceding 
table,  is  but  521,  and  only  524  words  of  the  total  grade 
list  were  used  by  fifty  per  cent  of  the  students  of  this 
grade.  This  is  only  a  little  more  than  one-fourth  of  the 
total  grade  list,  and  the  remaining  words  grew  in  use- 
fulness as  the  years  went  on.  The  second  grade  list  pre- 
sents the  essentials  of  the  spelling  task  for  the  second, 
third  and  fourth  years.  Indeed,  it  was  found  in  this 
study  that  not  only  do  students  feel  a  great  dearth  of 
words  when  they  begin  to  write,  that  not  only  are  their 
four  vocabularies,  auditory,  lingual,  visual  and  writing, 
far  from  identical,  but  that  the  1,900  words  of  the  second 
grade  list  actually  constitute  the  real  working  vocabular- 
ies in  the  written  work  of  all  subsequent  grades.  From 
the  standpoint  of  usefulness  this  list  is  worth  many  times 
as  much  as  all  the  other  lists  combined ;  and  this  fact  is  al- 
so significant  in  spelling  teaching. 


28  CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 

CONCLUSIONS. 

We  are  now  in  position  to  state  a  number  of  con- 
clusions bearing  directly  on  the  problem  of  this  study,  and 
these  conclusions  are  as  follows : 

1.  Since  the  prevalent  method  of  presenting  spelling 
material  is  through  lists  found  in  spelling  books  which 
commonly  contain  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  words  (a 
few  recent  spellers  contain  from  six  to  ten  thousand,  but 
these  are  not  yet  in  common  use) ;  and  since  this  study  re- 
veals the  fact  that  students  in  the  highest  grade  of  our 
common  schools  have  on  the  average  less  than  2,500  words 
in  their  writing,  or  spelling,  vocabularies,  our  first  con- 
clusion is  our  spelling  material  is  bad  in  that  it  (fires 
thousands  of  words  which  children  do  not  use,  and  at  the 
same  time  we  are  not  teaching  them  to  spell  the  much 
smaller  lists  of  words  which  they  do  use. 

2.  Our  spelling  books  are  avowedly  based  upon  read- 
ing vocabularies ;  and  since  this  study  shows  that  writing 
vocabularies  commonly  linger  from  one  to  three  years  be- 
hind the  reading  vocabularies,  our  grading  of  spelling  ma- 
terial is  far  from  adequate. 

3.  In  studying  the  spelling  book,  the  student  does 
not  distinguish  the  words  of  his  writing  vocabulary  from 
those  of  his  reading  vocabulary,  which  appear  quite  as 
familiar  to  his  eye;  hence  the  student's  study  is  not  econ- 
omically directed  in  that  he  studies  words  from  his  read- 
ing vocabulary  that  do  not  belong  to  his  spelling  vocabu- 
lary, without  distinction. 

4.  Word  lists  containing  from  ten  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand words  present  to  the  student  thousands  of  un- 
familiar words,  and  the  student  spends  most  of  his  efforts 
upon  the  unfamiliar  words  of  his  spelling  list. 

5.  The  words  which  give  most  trouble  in  spelling  are 
found,  almost  without  exception,  in  the  writing  vocabular- 
ies of  the  lower  grades;  and  since  these  troublesome  but 
useful  words  are  not  pointed  out  and  effectively  dealt  with 


MATERIAL   OF  ENGLISH   SPELLING  29 

in  these  early  grades,  our  handling  of  the  most  dangerous 
spelling  material  is  not  efficient,  and  students  go  on  mis- 
spelling, year  after  year,  words  that  should  be  mastered  in 
the  early  school  years. 

6.  Since  grade  students  commonly  use  from  500  to 
2,500  words  in  writing,  yet  on  the  average  misspell  but 
about  fifty  words,  not  one  child  out  of  a  thousand  mis- 
spelling as  many  as  one  hundred  words,  our  spelling  prob- 
lem is  not  so  gigantic  as  it  is  commonly  believed  to  be,  for 
the  reason  that  a  handful  of  words  misspelled  over  and 
over  by  each  student  has  misled  us  in  our  judgment.  On 
the  other  hand — 

7.  Since  no  word  is  immune  to  misspelling,  and  each 
word  has  to  be  mastered,  our  most  important  problem  in 
handling  spelling  material  is  the  problem  of  placing  in 
the  hands  of  our  students  the  list  of  words  useful  in  their 
writing  at  the  given  time,  and  making  sure  that  these 
words  arc  mastered.  These  lists  can  never  be  "desk  made/' 

S.  The  twenty-words-a-day  lesson  should  disappear, 
for  the  reasons  that  (1)  tve  can  not  teach  spelling  effec- 
tively in  such  doses,  and  (2)  such  assignments  imply  more 
words  than  any  student  commands. 

9.  Writing  vocabularies  of  grade  students  are  not 
complete  and  static,  but  moving  and  progressive,  with 
words  coming  and  going.  Just  what  words  are  transient, 
the  degree,  and  what  should  be  done  with  such  words,  are 
problems  which  must  be  left  to  further  investigation. 

10.  Proper  names  symbolizvng  persons  and  places 
are  localized  and  individual,  and  they  should  be  handled 
as  such.  General  lists  of  such  words  are  of  little  value  in 
spelling. 

11.  The  most  useful  words  in  our  language,  indeed 
in  any  language,  are  the  words  early  learned  by  children, 
hence  the  spelling  vocabularies  of  the  lower  grades  should 
receive  special  attention;  and  this  means  that  there  should 
be  fewer  words  in  the  spelling  assignment  and  more  care 
in  fixing  their  meaning  and  use. 


30  CONCRETE  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  The  Futility  of  the  Spelling  Grind.  J.  M.  Rice. 
The  Forum,  163f,  409f,  1897.     New  York. 

2.  Spelling  in  the  Elementary  School.  Oliver  P. 
Cornman,  1902.    Boston. 

3.  Optical  Illusions  of  Reversible  Perspective.  J. 
E.  W.  Wallin,  1905.    Princeton. 

4.  Studies  and  Observations  in  the  School  Room. 
H.  E.  Kratz,  1907.    Boston. 

5.  The  Transference  of  Training  in  Memory.  G.  0. 
Fracker.  Psy.  Review,  Monograph,  Vol.  IX,  No.  2,  56- 
102.     1908.     Baltimore. 

6.  The  Baily-Manly  Spelling  Books,  with  Teacher's 
Manual,  1908.     Boston. 

7.  Starvation  and  Mental  Development.  C.  H.  Bean. 
Psy.  Clinic,  May  15,  1909.    Phila. 

8.  On  the  Analysis  of  Memory  Consciousness  in  Or- 
thography. Edwina  E.  Abbott.  Studies  from  the  Psy- 
chological Laboratory  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  Vol.  1, 
No.l  .  1909.    Baltimore.  (Psy.  Rev.  Monograph.) 

9.  Champion  Spelling  Book.  Hicks.  1909.  New 
York. 

10.  Spelling.  W.  E.  Chancellor.  Jour,  of  Educa- 
tion, 448,  517,  573,607.     1910.     Boston. 

11.  A  Spelling  Hospital  in  the  High  School.  W. 
W.  Charters.     The  School  Review,  192.     1910.  Chicago. 

12.  Spelling  in  Milwaukee.  Jour,  of  Education, 
153,  270,  383,  410.    1910.    Boston. 

13.  Has  the  Drill  Become  Obsolescent?  J.  E.  W. 
Wallin.  Jour,  of  Educational  Psychology,  200.  1910. 
Baltimore. 

14.  The  Teaching  of  Spelling.  Henry  Suzzallo. 
1911.    Columbia  University,  New  York. 

15.  Spelling  Efficiency.  J.  E.  W.  Wallin.  1911. 
Baltimore. 


MATERIAL    OF   ENGLISH    SPELLING  31 

16.  Comparative  Experimental  Teaching  in  Spell- 
ing. Suzzallo  and  Pearson.  1912.  Columbia  University, 
New  York. 

17.  The  Spelling  Vocabularies  of  Personal  and 
Business  Letters.  Leonard  P.  Ayres.  No.  E.  126.  Rus- 
sell Sage  Foundation,  New  York. 

18.  The  Child's  Own  Spelling  Book.  Jones.  1913. 
Capital  Supply  Co.,  Pierre,  S.  D. 

19.  Spelling  Ability;  Its  Measurements  and  Distri- 
bution. Buckingham.  1913.  Teachers  College,  New 
York.     Columbia  Contributions  to  Education,  No.  59. 

20.  The  Child  and  His  Spelling.  Cook  &  O'Shea. 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co.,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


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